1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to feed mechanisms for fasteners of the type that are applied to sheetmetal by various types of presses, and particularly to a modular autofeed system for feeding fasteners of various kinds to utilization devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art as known includes the following United States patents, discovered as the result of a preliminary patentability and novelty search:
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In the manufacture of end products for sale to the general public, particularly those that embody housings or components fabricated from sheetmetal panels, it is frequently necessary to attach to the sheetmetal panels fasteners of different types. Thus, in some instances, studs, threaded or otherwise, must be attached permanently to the panel so that components may be detachably secured to the sheetmetal panel. In other instances, relatively small receptors of elongated studs, such as square, hexagonal or circular fastener elements, must be permanently secured to the sheetmetal panel to detachably receive the shank of the elongated stud, be it threaded or not.
For efficient operation of a sheetmetal fabrication operation, it is necessary that the fasteners be fed to the utilization device in a properly timed sequence and in a proper orientation so that the utilization device, usually a press of the type described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,358, owned by the owner of the present invention, through utilization of appropriate tooling, may secure the fastener in the proper location on the sheetmetal in a permanent manner. Feed mechanisms of various types have been devised to accomplish this purpose. However, most such feed mechanisms are expensive, complex in their operation, cumbersome, and difficult and time consuming to interchange with another feed mechanism when a different type fastener must be fed to the same utilization device. Accordingly, it is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a modular autofeed system that obviates these disadvantages of conventional feed mechanisms.
Because of the complexities of conventional fastener feed mechanisms, they are prone to malfunction, causing delay in the production of end products through time expended to correct the malfunction so that production may resume. Accordingly, a still further object of the present invention is the provision of a modular autofeed system for fasteners that is so simple and effective in its performance and construction as to be free of malfunction.
During the course of manufacturing a product utilizing sheetmetal panels, several different type fasteners are often used in the same end product. To change the fastener feed mechanism in conventional systems often encompasses an inordinate amount of time, during which time the utilization machine is out of service, and manpower must be utilized to effect the change. Therefore, a still further object of the present invention is the provision of a modular autofeed system in which the components required to be changed to feed different fastener elements are so efficiently interrelated that the interchange may be accomplished in about 11/2 minutes.
Conventional feed mechanisms most often malfunction because one of the fasteners being fed through the mechanism is not properly oriented and therefore jams the mechanism. Yet another object of the invention is the provision of an orientation module for a modular autofeed system that initially properly orients the fastener elements to minimize the possibility of jamming of the fasteners, and to facilitate the clearing of such a problem if it occurs.
During the fabrication of products incorporating sheetmetal panels, and the permanent attachment to such panels of various types of fasteners, it is sometimes expedient to feed fasteners to the utilization device in a continual stream for use as fast as the utilization device can be cycled. In other instances, it is expedient to feed the fasteners one-by-one at a prescribed rate, or when called for by the operator of the utilization device. Accordingly, it is still another object of the invention to provide in a modular autofeed system for fasteners a singulator module that is selectively operable in either an automatic mode to feed a continual stream of fasteners, or in a manual mode to feed the fasteners one at a time to the utilization device.
One of the problems that persists in conventional fastener feed machines in the sheetmetal fabrication industry arises from the widely held concept that a "universal" feed mechanism that can be adapted to feed different types and styles of fasteners is more economical and therefore preferable to a modular design. Adherence to this "universal" concept requires that presses or utilization devices be shut down while the "universal" feeder mechanism is revamped, modified and adjusted to enable switching from one fastener to another. This takes time that could more effectively be used in the production of end products through use of the press or utilization device. Accordingly, a still further object of the invention is the provision of a modularized automatic fastener feed mechanism in which fasteners of any type are dumped into a vibrating bowl that causes feeding of the fasteners into an operatively associated orientation module designed for a specific fastener, which functions to orient the individual fasteners and feeds them into a singulator module designed for that particular fastener and operatively associated with the orientation module to receive one or a stream of fasteners therefrom and feed them one at a time or in a stream, properly oriented and in a timed sequence, or as called for, to the utilization device.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of multiple sets of cooperatively related orientation and singulator modules designed for operation together to handle specific types and styles of fastener elements, each set being cooperatively related to and functional with a vibrating bowl assembly that is common to all the different sets of orientation and singulator modules, and which enables removal of one set of orientation and singulator modules from the bowl and substitution of another set in less than about two (2) minutes.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of a feeder assembly including a vibrating bowl and orientation and singulator modules that may be interchanged without the use of tools.
The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which with the foregoing will be apparent from the following description and the drawings. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiment illustrated and described since it may be embodied in various forms within the scope of the appended claims.